Wellington Management Group LLP Boosts Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 162.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,822,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,745,283 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 1.11% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $801,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 37,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,561,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,011,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $287,036,000 after buying an additional 16,173 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $803,000. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 160,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,656,000 after acquiring an additional 52,091 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,173,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $314.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $352.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $341.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $313.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,536,304.26. This trade represents a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total value of $2,505,260.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 90,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,029,771.80. This trade represents a 7.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of AJG stock opened at $345.01 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $88.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.92 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $230.08 and a fifty-two week high of $350.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $322.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $301.35.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. On average, analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.88%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co engages in the provision of insurance brokerage, reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services. It operates through the following segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.